Wisdom And Courage
by Sorceress Zelda
Summary: She was just an innocent princess of the kingdom of Hyrule. He was just an orphan living in Balamb Garden. Neither of them knew the other existed, let alone that soon their destinies would collide. When the sorceress of his world joins forcess with the king of darkness from hers, Squall and Zelda will team up to save both of their worlds, and maybe even start a romance. SQUELDA. AU
1. How It Began

_En dashe bu_

_Nobe shutu_

_Tie shutwu _

_Kewanu swa lei…_

My voice rang through my bedroom as I sang the song of my ancestors. I didn't feel like a true member of the Hyrule family. My mother, and her mother, and her mother… they all had blonde hair. I, though, had brown. I thought it meant something; something bad. Could've it…?

There was light tapping on the other side of my door. "Come in," I called. The door opened, and Impa came in. She made a small bow, before saying, "Your Grace, it's time."

"Already?" I asked.

The Sheikah woman nodded, and I stood up from my spot on my four-poster canopy bed. "Here, I'll braid your hair," she offered, stepping behind me.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

I… wasn't ready for this, was I? This was the day Hyrule would by introduced to their next ruler; me. I was seventeen, and to be crowned queen on my nineteenth birthday.

"There you go," Impa said, stepping out from behind me. "I'll go get your father." I nodded, and Impa left, leaving me alone again.

I lifted up the hand mirror sitting on the bedside table next to me (my tiara lying next to it), then began to examine my appearance. Usually, I didn't care how I looked, but now it was important. I was going to speak in front of a nation, and I was going to prove myself as a worthy queen and ruler.

I didn't think I was beautiful. My mother was so much more beautiful than me. Everything about her was perfect; she had the perfect blonde hair, the perfect blue eyes, the perfect nose, the perfect smile, the perfect figure, the perfect voice… I, on the other hand, was the opposite of perfect.

I, like I said, had long, stringy brown hair, a stubby-ish nose, nothing could be said about my smile, I was too thin, and my voice was no where near as soft and sweet. The only thing I got from my mother were my eyes.

My mother… she was dead. She died due to a plague. A horrible plague that killed about a fourth of my people.

"Zelda," my father's voice boomed kindly from the hallway. "Uh- yes, Father! Please, come in!"

Gaepora Loedel, the king of this land, was my father. He was extereamly wise; so wise that even though I was supposed to be the human with the most wisdom, I thought he was wiser than me. "Are you ready?" he asked, stepping into the room.

"I… I… believe… so…" I said nervously.

"Don't worry," he assured me, "you'll do fine."

"Yes, Father."

He then opened his welcoming arms, allowing me to run into them, then he embraced me. "You're just like your mother," he smiled as I stood in his arms. "Now, let Hyrule see its soon-to-be queen." Then, he took the tiara off of my bedside table, and placed it on my head. I smiled nervously, then Father opened the doors that led out to my terrace.

Outside, assembled in the courtyard, were all the people of Hyrule, there to hear me speak. Stage fright struck me as I followed my father onto the terrace, but it was soon consumed by a different fear.

I heard a voice. It was crying out, as if in pain. The sky was dark, making the crys seem worse than they were. The wind blew hard, whipping my braid as it blew past me. I barley could hear my father speaking, until I heard him say, "…my daughter, Zelda."

I gasped, looked at my father, and he gestured my to walk forward and face the crowd.

Swollowing hard, I did so. It took me a while to find words, but I finally managed to say, "People of Hyrule…"

I opened my mouth to continue, but a loud cry ruptured from somewhere in the earth. At the time it did, a feeling of pain surged through my right hand. I looked down at my glove-covered hand, shook it out, but as soon as that happened, my throat clogged up, making it impossible to speak. I looked back out to the crowd, but something behind them caught my eye.

The sky behind them. It was darker, and the darkness was spreading quickly. Swirling like a cyclone, the darkness reached Hyrule. The people, on the other hand, were paying so much attention to me, they didn't see it.

"Look behind you!" I cried. Obeying their princess, they turned around and saw the darkness. "Go home!" I ordered them. "This seems like a horrible storm that we don't want to get caught up in…" The darkness was now blanketing the entire sky. The sky itself was now distorted and twisted, looking like a nightmare. "Go down in your cellars, and stay there until further notice! You are dismissed!"

The people once again obeyed, as every man, woman, and child left the courtyard. The already-hard-blowing wind picked up as I stood frozen on the terrace, looking up at the sky. "Your Grace," Impa called, "hurry inside!" My mind was telling me to do so, but my legs were frozen stiff. My right hand surged with pain again, but this time, it was unbearable and began messing with my head. I felt the pain beginning to take away my consciousness. I lifted up my hand, barely able to keep my eyes open, and noticed… A triangle glowing a faint light shone through my glove. I looked at it for a few seconds before falling unconcious due to immense pain.

* * *

**A/N: Haii!**

**If you can't tell, I used _Twilight Princess_ Zelda for this story. There's a specail little reason for that :3  
**

**And we all should know what song she's singing! "Ballad Of The Goddess" from _Skyward Sword_! xD xD xD! Translyrics (to Hylian) by ****adrisurus****. **

**Oh, yeah. Um, Zelda's mother's maiden last name was Hyrule, because she married the king so… but when Zelda's mother married Zelda's father then… yeah, you get it. **

**Thanks for reading, my wacky little sea otters, and don't forget review!  
**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own _The Legend of Zelda_ or _Final Fantasy VIII._ Everything belongs to rightful owners. **


	2. The New Girl

Light slowly began creeping into view.

"Hey," a woman's voice called out to me, "are you alright?"

* * *

Squall Leonhart walked down the hallway in Balamb Garden, heading toward the infirmary. Quitsis Trepe, his instructor, said that she needed him there. But why? Did he do something wrong?

"Yo, Squall!" a voice called from behind him. Squall turned around to see his "friend", Zell Dincht, running to catch up with him.

Zell was a hyperactive blonde with blue eyes and a tattoo on his face. He wore baggy shorts, a red shirt, and a blue jean jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Zell's personality, which was loud and hyper, was the exact opposite of Squall's quiet, unsocial, and almost cold personality.

"Does Quitsis need you do?" the blonde asked.

"…Yeah." Squall replied simply. He wasn't one for talking,

"I wonder what she needs us for…?" Zell said, clasping his hands on the back of his head.

Squall shook his head.

_Why does she need us?_ he wondered, _I swear I didn't do something wrong. And I don't think Zell did either… this is for something else._

The two seventeen-year-olds walked into the infirmary, and saw their instructor immediately. Quitsis Trepe had long, blonde hair that she clipped up with two sections in the front down, and she wore a red zip-up tank top and long red skirt. She had glasses perched on her nose, and she had blue eyes. She was standing in the infirmary's waiting room… with a different girl.

Squall had never seen this girl before, and he's been living at Garden for as long as he could remember. This girl had long, brown hair in a braid down her back, blue eyes, and she was wearing a white tank top and a knee-high lavender-colored skirt. On her feet, she wore ballet flats. The thing that caught Squall's eye the most, though, was the girl's long, pointy, elf-like ears…

"Squall," Quitsis said, walking over to him, "I would like you and Zell to show this girl around Garden. She's new here."

_What? _Squall thought, _Why do I have to show the new girl around? Am I being punished for something?_

"Oh," Quitsis said, as if reading Squall's mind, "and don't worry. You're not being punished. Headmaster Cid and I just thought you and Zell would be the perfect two to show her around."

_What!? Why me!?_

"…Whatever." Squall said.  
"Zelda," Quitsis said, gesturing the girl over to the two boys.  
"Hello," the girl smiled, "I'm Zelda Loedel."

She put out her hand for Squall to shake, but he didn't do anything… except stare at her.

"Oh…" Zelda said awkwardly, letting her hand fall to her side.  
"Nah, don't take it personally," Zell said, brushing off Zelda's awkwardness, "that's Squall Leonhart for ya. He's just not very social. I'm Zell. Zell Dincht."

Zell stuck his hand out for Zelda, and smiling broadly, she shook it. When she shook it, though, her eyes filled with fear and she breathed in sharply.

"Um…" Zell said, noticing, "are you okay?"

"What?" Zelda said, snapping back into reality. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"Alright. Squall, let's show her around."

"…Whatever," Squall replied again.

As the trio left the infirmary, Zell turned to Zelda.

"Now," he said, "tell me more about yourself. Where ya from?"

"…I should start out with saying," Zelda said, "I have a small case of amnesia. I can't… really remember where I'm from. I can't remember my dad's job either, but I know it's important…"

"Well, what's your dad's name?"

"Gaepora. Gaepora Loedel."

"Hm…"

* * *

As we walked, Squall didn't say anything. Like he was giving me the cold shoulder. Zell, on the other hand, was a good conversation builder. He tried to help me remember everything I had somehow managed to forget.

"Okay…" he said, "do ya remember anything about the name of your hometown? First letter or _somethin_'."

"The first letter…" I said, deep in thought, "'H'…?"

"'H'? Hm…"

"That might not be right… I honestly can't remember."

I looked at Squall. He looked tired of our attempts, so I decided to stop talking.

While Zell asked my questions about my past, I didn't bother to ask him anything about his. Because I already knew. How did I already know? Well, when I shook his hand, I saw a vision. No, I wouldn't call it a vision, more like memories. But they weren't _my _memories; they were Zell's.

Now I could summarize his entire life in just a few sentences, because one touch and that stuff was jammed into my mind. _My _mind.

Quitsis' information was in my mind, too, but her's came to me in a dream. I _was_ unconscious when she first found me.

The saddest thing about it was, that this thing called a Guardian Force made them completely forget their childhood.

I looked at Squall. He was in both of those visions. He grew up with Quitsis and Zell, and a girl name Sewfie (translation: Selphie), and two other boys named Seifer and Irvine, and a girl who disappeared, and I didn't know her name.

Having someone else's memories appear to you as visions are scary. It's like when your life flashes before your eyes when you think you're going to die, but they're not your memories. As if you've been livingsomeone else's life.

My eyes dashed back and forth between the two guys, but stopped on Squall. He wore a leather jacket with fur aligning over a white shirt, black pants, a brown belt with a silver lion's head in the middle, and black shoes, and his hair and eyes were the color of mine.

The only thing notable about Zell was the tattoo on his face.

Squall led me into the center room of the building, and I looked around. There was an elevator in the middle, and the exit doors in the front of the room. In front of the doors, though, was a map of the place.

Squall showed the map, and told me where eveything was. Then, he lead me to my room, and left me alone.


	3. The Training Disaster

Chapter Three

Squall couldn't sleep that night. He had something on his mind. The SeeD exam was tomorrow, and for some reason, he was nervous. He tossed and turned in his bed uncomfortably. Something told him tomorrow wasn't going to turn out well. But then again, what could go wrong** (A/N: If only you knew, Squall. If only you knew)**?

The morning came too quick for comfort, and soon, Squall's alarm clock was going off. He didn't sleep at all last night, and now wasn't so sure about the exam.

He sat in bed, wondering what kinds of things he would have to do to pass the exam. Would he have to… kill anyone? Squall knew that he had a lot on his plate for that day.

_And I still need a Gaurdian Force,_ Squall reminded himself. _I have to do that this morning. _

He was still unsure about the exam. What if he didn't pass? Then what would he do? Would he try again? Or just quit?

_What's there to worry about?_ he asked himself, pushing himself out of bed. He kept the exam on his mind as he got dressed, then got his gunblade out of it's case.

Then he left his room, and began walking down the hall, but soon, he was stopped.

"Hello Squall," Quitsis voice said from behind him, "are you ready for this afternoon?"

_No, _Squall admitted to himself, but he wasn't going to admit it to anyone else.

"…Yeah, sure," he lied.

"'Yeah, sure'?" Quitsis laughed. "What kind of answer is that?"

Squall ignored his teacher's question (causing her to sigh loudly) as he walked down to her classroom. As soon as he sat at his desk, Quitsis walked to the front of the room.

"Since today is the SeeD exam," Quitsis said, "I want each of you to get some training in today. I'll assign you partners, and you and your partner will find a time to practice with each other."

She began calling out partners.

"Zell and… Zelda? Is it alright if you try? I'll get you a weapon."

_Zelda?_ Squall wondered, then strangly found himself looking around the room for the brunette girl. She was sitting in the desk in front of him.

"Um…" she said unsurely, "yeah. Okay."

Quitsis smiled, then continued calling names. Finally, Squall heard his own name.

"Squall and… Seifer."

_Hell, no, _Squall said to himself, burying his face in his palm. _Anyone but Seifer. _

"Squall," a voice behind him sneered. Squall's fists automatically clenched as he stood up and turned around to face who was behind him.

Seifer Almasy, the biggest bastard who'd ever walked the earth. He had his blonde hair slicked back so only a few strands hung in his face. He wore a long white coat with crimson sword-crosses on each shoulder over a blue vest with a white cross through the middle. He wore black gloves, pants, and shoes, and he stared at Squall, his icy-blue eyes staring into Squall's soul.

Seifer hated Squall's guts. And Squall hated him the same way. They had always gotten in arguments, for as long as Squall could remember. And pretty much all Seifer wanted, was Squall dead. You weren't supposed to hurt your training partner, but if Squall and Seifer were partners, it was highly likely that one would end up dead.

"We're training now," he ordered.

"Sorry," Squall said, "but I have something I need to do now."

"Oh? Or are you scared?"

"Scared of what? You?"

"Don't deny it."

"Deny what? You're nothing but a bastard."

"Humph." Seifer folded his arms. "Show me you're brave enough to be a SeeD. We train now. Unless you're a coward."

"I'm not a coward," Squall hissed under his breath, then said. "…Fine. Whatever you say, Seifer."

* * *

"So, we're partners?" Zell asked me, folding his arms and smiling.

"Mhm," I smiled back, "as soon as I get my weapon."

"My fists are my weapons!" Zell said, punching the air in a way that made me laugh.

"Zelda, are you ready?"

"Oh, yes. Um… does… twenty minutes sound good?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright, see you later."

"See ya!"

I turned and walked over to Quitsis, who smiled at me.

"Alright, come with me."

The sky was a dark gray and the spring air was heavy with the moister of a coming storm as Squall walked over the dry, cracked ground near the training center to where Seifer already stood.

"Took you long enough," Seifer smirked.

Squall growled.

"Arrogant bastard," he muttered to himself.

Soon, the two were standing five feet away from each other, each staring at the other with fire in his eyes, one smiling, the other one scowling.

Something about Seifer's smile made Squall feel as if Seifer was mocking him, and before he had time to think, his body was forcing him into attack.

Sparks flew as the sound of metal-against-metal rang through the air, Squall and Seifer's gunblades colliding. The two wielders' eyes met as they glared at each other, before both being thrust back from the force of the other's blade.

Seifer thrusted quickly, and Squall deflected the attack in a rush. The two blades collided again as Squall and Seifer once again made eyes contact. But this time, Seifer wasn't wearing that smug look. This time, it was more like respect arrogance on the blonde's face.

Their gunblades once again met, sending a ringing noise through the air. Seifer smirked as he shot his weapon upwards, knocking Squall's blade from his hands. It landed with a crash! a few feet away from them. Squall hesitated. He was now unarmed, and all Seifer wanted was a chance to kill him. Lightning cracked the sky, almost startling Squall, as it began to rain.

Squall quickly glanced at Seifer, who was probably just waiting for him go try and get his blade, smiling.

_Dammit,_ Squall thought, making a lounge for his blade. He dashed toward it, swept it up, then turned it into an attack.

He thrusted his sword at Seifer, who single-handedly repelled the attack.

_…The hell!?_ Squall blinked in utter confusion. _How did he do that?_

Noticing Squall's hesitation, Seifer took advantage of the moment to make an arching slice, which was deftly repelled.

"You having fun yet?" Seifer asked, sneering again.

Squall growled again. He couldn't stand Seifer.

Seifer continued to attack, Squall either repelling or dodging the attacks.

"You know what?" Seifer said. "I'm done playing around. This just got real."

_Dammit… _Squall thought again as Seifer rush forward, a yellow and red light coming together into a single ball, then smirked wildly as he unleashed the ball if energy, _he's using magic. _

Squall couldn't do nothing about this attack; he didn't have a Guardian Force (GF), so he couldn't use magic to attack or protect himself. A shadow fell over him as he looked up and…

_ F*ck, _he cursed loudly in his head as Seifer's gunblade slashed down his face: starting from above his left eyebrow and down the bridge of his nose. His crimson blood splattered the stone beneath him and spread down his face, pain surging from the new mark on his forehead. Squall moaned loudly.

That was the last straw. Full of rage, Squall swung his blade in a way that it dragged across the stone ground, sparks flying as it broke the ground beneath it, and he made a slice up Seifer's face.

Seifer grimaced as his own blood slaattered. Blood was now blurring Squall's eyesight, but he wasn't going to give this up until it was through. But then again, he was losing blood through his head fast. He had already lost a lot of blood, and he already noticed the world spinning due to the loss.

Seifer was on full rage as he made his final attack on Squall, another use of magic Squall couldn't defend. Squall barley had time to see what the attack was before pain ripped through his mind. He cried out in pain, then stumbled backwards and collapsed, darkness consuming his thoughts.

* * *

**This chapter is deticated to Elysea (from another website) for inspiring me to write the Squall-and-Seifer-fight. Thank you! **


	4. After The Training Disaster

"Are you going easy on me?" I asked Zell as we were training.

"Yeah," Zell answered, "because I don't wanna hit a girl."

"How _Rude_!" I said, laughing.

"'Rude'!? Wha'd ya mean 'rude'!? Oh, it's on now."

"Oh, no," I giggled.

So, starting at that moment, Zell and I began mocking each other, but both of us were laughing.

"I am not rude!" Zell said.

"Then _excuse_ me," I laughed back, before adding "princess," under my breath.

_This is the most fun I've had in forever,_ I smiled to myself._ I mean, I've been stressed out a lot lately… I can't remember why, though. _

The weapons Quistis gave me to use were a bow and quiver of arrows, a sword, and I personally asked for a sheild (which took her fifteen of our twenty minutes to find). I let Zell borrow the sheild during our training, because I had two weapons and he didn't have any.

I wasn't even using my weapons. I was just dodging his punches that weren't thrown very hard.

Then, inturrupting our fun, a streak of lightning cracked across the sky, followed by loud thunder that startled me. Then, it began to lightly rain.

"Should we go in?" Zell asked.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I guess our training session is over."

As soon as I finished speaking, I heard someone cryout in pain from not-so-far away. Zell and I looked at each other.

"You heard that too, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," Zell replied. "Was that you?"

"No," I said, "did you see my mouth move?"

"Good point. What the hell _was_ that?"

I looked the direction the cry came from.

"I don't know," I said, "but… I'm going to find out."

Then, I ran to where I heard it. As soon as the scene of where the cry came from came into view, I froze.

Squall was unconcious. Unconcious and covered in blood. Walking away from the scene was a blonde man, who was hold his hand to his face, blood leaking through the gaps between his fingers.

I broke out into a sprint, and when I passed the blonde man, my arm rubbed against him, sending me some of his memories.

From what I saw in those few memories, his name was Seifer, and he hated Squall with a burning passion. But that didn't mean he had to kill Squall!

I fell to my knees at Squall's limp body. I quickly found his hand, and bracing myself to see his memories, I held it up by the wrist, feeling for a pulse.

As his life flashed in front of my eyes, I immedeatly felt bad for him. He had a hard childhood. His mother died, and his father left and didn't know he existed, so his hometown sent Squall and another girl to an orphanage. So that girl was pretty much Squall had left to his family. And soon, she disappeared. Squall didn't know where where she went, but he was always waiting for her, and eventually thought she abondonded him.

As soon as the memories left my eyes, I felt an unsteady pulse in Squall's hand. I sighed with relief. At least he was alive.

I carefully rolled him over, and gasped at what I saw. There was a deep wound down his head, and it was bleeding heavily.

I bit my bottom lip. We needed help. I didn't know where Zell went; he probably went inside.

I felt around in Squall pockets, looking for a phone or something. On finding one, I began looking through his caller's ID to see who I could call for help.

Almost no one had ever called Squall. There were only two people that came up on the screen; someone I didn't know, and Quistis. I selected Quistis' number, and put the phone up to my ear. I heard the sound that meant her phone was ringing, then I heard her answer.

"Hello?" she said.

"Quistis?" I said nervously.

"Zelda? You sound worried. What's wrong?"

I was surprised she didn't ask where I got the phone, or how I knew her number, but I tried to answer her question anyway. It felt like there was a stone lodged in my throat, though, so not all of the words I meant to say came out.

"Um… uh… Squall… Seifer… training…? Problem…"

"Problem…? Oh, no. I'll be right there. Hang on!" Then she hung up.

Okay… I thought, trying to calm the strange worried felling I had, Squall is fine. Quistis is coming for help.

I noticed I had a water bottle with me, so I decided to use some of the water in it to wash the blood off Squall's face. I held my hand over Squall's head, and with my free hand, I poured water over it. I let the water stream between my fingers, and onto Squall's face. Then, using the back of my hand, I wiped some of the watery blood off of his face.

The water must have woken him up, because he slowly opened his eyes, the looked at me. His eyes didn't seem to be focusing.

"Squall," I said quietly, "are you alright?"

"…"

"Squall?"

"…Zelda?"

"Squall," I said anxiously, holding up two fingers, "how many fingers am I holding up?'

Squall squinted his eyes, looking at my hand.

"Four…?" he asked unsurely. I gasped worriedly and shook my head. I was about to lower my hand when Squall grabbed my wrist and held it where it was. He squinted his eyes again, then after a while answered, "Two."

I bit my lip again.

"That's right but…"

Squall then tried to get up.

"No!" I cried, pushing him back into a laying position. "You lost a lot of blood. You need some rest if you want to pass the… SeeD exam, is it? Just… close your eyes."

I was worried sick. How much blood did he lose? Was he okay? The wound was still bleeding!

I didn't know what else I could do, so I began to hum a song softly. The song… I wasn't sure, but I thought it was my lullaby, so decided to hum it to Squall. Either the lullaby worked or Squall was losing to much blood, but Squall dozed off again. As soon as he did, Quistis showed up.

"I thought that if I had those two training together, someone would get hurt but…" she said, her voice trailing off.

"Then why did you have them train together?" I asked, looking up at Quistis.

"Squall's pretty much the only one that can stand up to Seifer," she sighed. "Zell can too, but I wanted you to train with someone you've met and are comfortable around. Zell was my only choice for you, leaving Seifer and Squall."

I didn't have anything to say after that. Did that mean this was… my fault?

"Come on, Zelda. Let's get Squall to the infirmary before he loses all his blood."

I nodded, then Quistis helped me lift Squall up.

* * *

Squall moaned. His forehead… it hurt so much, but he couldn't remember why. He slowly opened his eyes, but closed them quickly due to the light in the room he was in.

_Where… am I? _he wondered. _What happened…?_

_Oh, yeah,_ he remembered. _Seifer… and the training._

Squall opened his eyes again, and saw Dr. Kadowaki looking down at me.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

My forehead hurts… Squall told himself, sitting up.

"…Okay," he lied, massaging his temples. He had a bandage around his head, covering up the scar.

"Take it easy next time, you hear?" Dr. Kadowaki ordered. "Looks like your eyes are focusing. You should be fine. Say your name for me."

"Squall," Squall said.

Dr. Kadawoki nodded, then said, "Why don't you take it easy in training? Next time you might not be as lucky."

"Tell that to Seifer," Squall grumbled, resting his head in his hand.

"That Seifer…" Dr. Kadowaki sighed, "won't listen to anyone. Why don't you just ignore him?"

"I can't just run away."

"You want to be cool, huh? Just don't get hurt in the process."

She smiled at Squall.

"Let's see…" she said. "Your instructor is… Quistis! I'll call her now. Just wait here a minute."

Squall nodded, then layed back down and layed his arm over his eyes.

"Quistis? Come get your student. …Yes, yes… His injury's not that serious. It'll probably leave a scar. …Right. Now please come by."

As Squall laid there, he heard a woman's voice speaking to him.

"Squall… so we meet again."

Squall didn't think he heard that voice before, so I looked toward where the voice came from.

There was a woman who looked like she was in her twenties smiling through the glass between Squall and the waiting room. She wore a blue tank top with a white lace collar, a tan skirt, yellow shoes, and a green shawl. After Squall saw her, she smiled again, then left.

As soon as the woman left, Quistis came in. She saw Squall, then sighed.

"I knew it'd be either you or Seifer!"


End file.
